Volume 4, The Third Question(1/3)
Please imagine the scene below then answer the question.
‘You are going on a vacation with the person you like. You are getting ready to board the flight, and you suddenly realized that you have forgotten to bring something. Exactly what did you forget to bring?”
Himeji Mizuki’s answer:
Medicines such as those for headache and stomachache.
Teacher’s comment:
This is actually a psychological test of “what you expect of the person you like”, the forgotten things symbolizes what you expect of. When you forgot to bring something for a vacation and you didn’t realize it, it means you hope that your partner will make up for it. I can see that Himeji-san desires a sense of relief from the person you like.
Kirishima Shouko’s answer:
Handcuffs.
Teacher’s comment:
Before talking about what you forgot to bring, there seems to be a problem that you’d bring a pair of handcuffs in the first place.
Kudou Aiko’s answer:
Forgot to wear underpants.
Teacher’s comment:
What do you actually want from the person you like?
☆
Once the misunderstanding between me and Minami was cleared up, I’d still have to get through a few more periods, and now it’s finally recess time.
When the misunderstanding of Minami and me being in a relationship was made known, Class D’s preparation for the Summoner Test War came to an end. Minami went and shared a table with Himeji-san, Shimizu-san should’ve let it go already right?
Shimizu-san’s anger might be appeased, but now there’s a different person who’s pissed off....
“Mizuki, do you want to have lunch together?”
I heard Minami asked Himeji-san this when the recess bell rang.
“Uh, Minami....”
I called out hurriedly to Minami who was standing up and getting ready to go somewhere.
“What, Aki, what are you calling me for?”
“Uh, that....about the bento that you mentioned this morning....”
While I was still speaking, Minami raised on of her eyebrows.
“Aki, what’re you saying? You’ve embarrassed me this much, and you still want me to give you my bento?”
I can feel the killing intent hidden in Minami’s words.
“I’m sorry, I’ve really apologized from the bottom of my heart.”
I guess Minami-sama is blinded by anger.
But its right, that kind of thing happened, it’s normal that she’d be angry....
“Really, Aki is always so oblivious! Mizuki, the weather is great today, let’s find a comfortable place without this idiot and have our lunch.”
Minami said that to Himeji-san who was standing beside her.
I guess, they’ve decided to have their lunch outside.
“Ah, Minami-chan, wait for me. Then, then it’s decided, Akihisa-kun, later.”
Himeji-san then jogged to catch up with Minami who didn’t look back and strode away.
It seems like she’s going to blow up with anger soon....Ever since going through that confession misunderstanding, Minami would only frown at me, I guess, she can still be considered gentle.
“What happened, Akihisa? You didn’t get the bento that Shimada made herself?”
Looking at her leaving, Yuuji brought his bento to my seat as usual, Hideyoshi following suit.
“Un, Minami seems like she’s still angry at me. I actually hoped for that bento....”
“Forget about it, like this, if she were to share her personally made bento with you, Shimizu may just rush in and cause trouble. From my point of view, you should just give up.”
“I guess you’re right in a way....”
Nevertheless, the food that Minami makes is really delicious, that’s why I feel that it’s a pity....No no no, I don’t compare her with anyone on purpose.
“By the way, where did Muttsurini run off to? How come I didn’t see him anywhere?”
“He seems to have come upon a rumor, I guess he must’ve run off the confirm it—Oh, he’s back!”
historical
“....I’m back.”
Muttsurini came out before us without even making a slight noise. Just that, it’s the jolly lunch time, but he looked gloomy.
“Muttsurini, what happened to you? Did something happen again?”
“....(Nods)”
“It is about the rumor that you just mentioned?”
“....The current condition is worse than this morning.”
As he was saying that, he took out his mini recorder that he always takes pride in on the table.
He pushed the play button, and a conversation that was mixed up with other noises.
(That, that, Tsuchiya-kun, I heard that you’ve got your hands on pictures of Akihisa-kun in sailor uniform, is this true?)
(....One hundred yen per piece, secondary distribution is forbidden.)
(Secondary distribution is forbidden....That’s a pity....But keeping it for myself alone is already worth it.)
--Ka cha!
“....I’ve got the wrong contents.”
“Eh, what was that? What was that conversation about?! That conversation seems to be extremely unfavorable to me!”
“Akihisa, you are too noisy, don’t get worked up because of a trivial matter.”
“This is obviously not a trivial matter! Why are pictures of me cross-dressing similar to those pictures of Hideyoshi being sold secretly?!”
“Wait! Akihisa, the words that you've just said are very terrible information to me!”
Damn it, who is it? Who is that person who bought my picture and ran away?
“....This is the real one.”
Muttsurini took out another similar recorder from his pocket. I just realized that he’s got more than one mini recorder on him.
(What’s the condition of Class F?)
(They seems to be doing something idiotic, they didn’t apply for mark replenishment this morning. I can see that they still haven’t found out our intentions.
(Really....There won’t be any problem like this. Now we’ll just replenish our points, and we’ll declare war immediately when they think that something’s not right.)
(Understood.)
Since this conversation was recorded, the sound quality was as lousy as the one just now, I couldn’t find out who were the people behind this. But, at least we knew that it’s a conversation between two guys.
“Is it Class D? If it is, maybe the misunderstanding still isn’t cleared up I guess?”
“....(Shakes head)”
Muttsurini shook his head in reply.
Not Class D? If it isn’t Class D, then which class did this conversation come from?
“I’ve already confirmed that Class D has no other movements, I’m afraid that they are from a different class. From the guy who is giving orders, they should be....”
“....It’s Class B’s conversation.”
“Class B? Why!?”
That conversation clearly pointed us as enemies, so they’re preparing for a Summoner Test War secretly. If so, will Class B become our enemy?
“Talking about Class B, is it that Nemoto guy pulling the strings? That pathetic guy, he actually came up with such a plot to get back at us.”
Yuuji made a sound with his tongue unhappily.
“I agree, no matter how they want to get back at us, Class B will be overdoing it by declaring a Summoner Test War on Class F.”
This is just plain bullying on an easy target.
“No, I’m afraid Nemoto’s objective isn’t only this.”
“Eh? No?”
“I can’t say that you’re wrong, that guy has enough reason to despise us, but what I meant is, their objective isn’t just revenge.”
Yuuji was still speaking in riddles, getting others confused with what he was actually thinking of.
“Yuuji, you said that they’ve got another objective, what is it?”
Hideyoshi also couldn’t comprehend what Yuuji was trying to convey, he asked while slightly inclining his head in confusion.
“It’s to put down everyone’s blame on him.”
“Eh? How is this related to what we’re discussing?”
“Nemoto isn’t popular from the beginning, and yet he was defeated even though he had used pathetic tricks against us during the Summoner Test War on April, that caused his position in his class to be more unstable.”
“Un, I understand that.”
Nemoto must be feeling like he’s in a frying pan.
“This is the problem! When a country is in obvious turmoil, what do you think the leader will do in order to appease the citizens in the fastest time possible?”
“Hn? Eh, this....”
That moment, I couldn’t understand Yuuji’s meaning.
“Akihisa, do you know the answer?”
“Pardon me, can you repeat it?”
“Really....Can’t you just pay attention to what others are saying?”
Yuuji rolled his eye in frustration.
He suddenly talked about such a profound topic, my brain couldn’t catch up with what he’s saying. But I’ll have to listen to him attentive now.
“What I mean is ‘to appease everyone, what is needed to be done’.”
Oh oh oh! That, I understand now. The answer to this question is very simple.
“Just use perfume.”
“Your answer is so unexpected that it stunned everyone.”
“....It scared me.”
“Eh? I remember a European guy on television saying ‘to control body odor, you must use perfume’!”
Did a television program lie to me?
“No, Akihisa, Yuuji didn’t mean that, he meant what is needed to be done in order to appease the public in the fastest time possible instead.... About that, what about using terrorism?”
“It’s a way, but it isn’t the fastest. Not to mention, dictatorship requires an overwhelmingly suppressive force beforehand in order for it to work.”
Replacing it with Class B’s condition, Nemoto-kun doesn’t have the right to speak now, so it’s pretty much impossible for him to use that method to appease everyone.
“If so, are there any other ideas?”
“The answer is ‘create a mutual enemy’. This can be seen everywhere in our daily life, if they have a mutual enemy, and by causing a small dispute purposely, it’ll be easier for them to form an alliance. There are a few people in history that used this method to stabilize their position."
Here, he listed a few historical figures as example. I see, so this is the case.
“By doing this, not only can they change the target of Class B’s anger from Nemoto to us, he can also vent some of his hatred. If he’s lucky, he’ll not only be able to beat Class F, he can also regain his position in Class B and his right of speech, and this should be what Nemoto is planning.”
When I finish hearing Yuuji’s explanation, I can finally fully understand his motive of trying to incite Class B into declaring war on us. If there’s this much reason for me, I’d also want to start a Summoner Test War.
“Even if Nemoto doesn’t have his right of speech, all he has to do is claim that he wants to ‘eliminate the mastermind from Class F who caused the peeping incident’, he can still get the whole class to listen to him. Our current condition is a very rare opportunity to him.”
To put it another way, it’s a good opportunity for us to help Nemoto-kun create a chance for him to redeem himself.
“If it’s as Yuuji said, I guess that there’s no way for us to avoid this war. Forget about it if it’s during peacetime, we still haven’t replenished our points now, that bastard Nemoto won’t let go of such an opportunity.”
“Hideyoshi is right. Even if it’s during peacetime, we still don’t have much of a chance to win, especially since that only Himeji and Shimada are able to fight this battle, and it’s pretty much an empty dream for us to win under such disadvantageous condition. Forget about Class D, if our opponent changes to Class B, the odds of us winning are less than one in ten thousand."
It was as Muttsurini said, our current condition is more dangerous than in the morning. If I had known sooner, I would’ve continued to let Class D misunderstand, and let them declare war on us there and then.
“If so.... Yuuji, what should we do? Why don’t we apply for tests now, and use the whole afternoon to replenish our points?”
“I agree, that’s the only thing left for us to do.”
The difference between our class and theirs is, half of Class B is girls, and the remaining half boys had been replenishing their marks since morning. On the other hand, our class mostly consists of boys, even if we start our marks replenishment now it’ll be just a drop in the bucket. But other than that, we’ve no other options.
But at that moment, Yuuji spoke against my way of thinking.
“.... No, it’s better not to do those unnecessary matters.”
“Eh?”
Yuuji objected to the point replenishment advice when he spoke.
“How do you explain it then? Or do you have a plan to defeat Class B without replenishing our marks?”
“No, I’m not that optimistic until I’d go and believe that we’d have an idea to defeat Class B.”
“If so, why did you say that we don’t need to replenish our marks? Then what should we do?”
If we can’t win with our current condition, then we’ll have to at least try by taking a different alternative that can make our condition better.
“First we need to buy some time, we must delay Class B from declaring war on us somehow.”
“Buy some time? Will this even benefit us?”
If we don’t replenish our marks, they’ll attack us eventually, will delaying make any difference?
“Just listen, if Class D declares war on us, we’ll just have to accept it obediently. Like this, we are bound to lose, but if they still haven’t declared war, we’ll still have a chance to avoid it.”
“But just now Hideyoshi said that, Nemoto-kun has more than enough reason to declare war on us, do you think it’d be easy to make him give up the idea?”
“That’s true, that’s why we need to make it impossible for Class B to declare war on us. Fortunately the Summoner Test War only allow a one-on-one war, that means—“
“You are going to let other classes battle Class B?”
If so, Class B can’t do anything to us then.
“Oh....You want me to disguise as my sister and provoke them like last time?”
“No, not like that. We’ve already used that trick before; we can’t use it a second time. I don’t want Class B to battle other classes, I’d like other classes to battle us instead.”
“You want other classes to battle us....I see, if so, Class B can’t declare war on us for a while, and we can still replenish our marks after the battle. Is this what you mean, Yuuji?”
“Right.”
One of the detailed rules of the Summoner Test War is that after a war ends, the participants will have a short ceasefire to replenish their marks. It’s because if this rule didn’t exist, all classes could be easily defeated.
“I used to be dissatisfied with this rule personally, but this time because of this rule, we get to avoid a disaster.”
Hideyoshi is right, if this rule didn’t exist, we would have been able to defeat Class A during the last Summoner Test War. But, this time we’d have to feel thankful for this rule’s existence.
“If we replenish our marks properly, and being fully prepared to resist Class B’s force, I don’t think they’ll dare to challenge us directly.”
“To put it another way, all we have to do is get into top form, then Class B won’t dare to challenge us, right?”
Because of the lesson learnt from the last Summoner Test War, if we get into top form, Class B will hesitate on whether they should challenge us.
In other words, whether they are going to battle us or not, it all depends on the condition of us Class F.
“But, how do we find our opponent? We’re still under disciplinary probation, so we can’t declare war on other classes, we can only wait for other classes to declare war on us right?”
“Our target is none other than Class D. If we let them take the initiative and declare war on us, we can also replenish our marks while the battle is ongoing. If our opponent is Class B it would be too risky to do so, but if our opponent is Class D, even if we can’t gain victory, we still won’t lose. Fortunately their class is divided into combatants and non-combatants, while they’re debating whether they should declare war on us, they don’t have much time to fully replenish their marks.”
The way he put it, the main force of Class D are the girls, which is obviously better than facing Class B.
“Yuuji, if we have a chance to win the battle all along, why don’t we just go all out at the beginning in the battle with Class D?”
It’s as if he’s confused by Yuuji, Hideyoshi slightly tilted his head in confusion.
“Hideyoshi, you misunderstood me. What I meant is, if we declare war on Class D, we may not lose but we won’t be able to win, that battle is meant to be a draw. We should try to avoid such annoying matter if we can, don’t you agree?”
I see. Even if they aren’t afraid of being troubled like Yuuji, but most people would try and avoid cumbersome matters.
“Eh? But the way you said it, we are still going to battle? If so, why don’t we use the afternoon period to replenish our marks?”
“Are your ears there for just decoration purpose? Try and remember the report that Muttsurini recorded.”
Err, let me think, the conversation that Muttsurini recorded is—
“Muttsurini! 100 yen per piece is too cheap! Hideyoshi’s pictures are already 500 yen per piece!”
“Oh oh, mine is sold for 500 yen....Regarding the pictures, can both of you explain it to me more clearly?”
“.... Those are all done by my secretary.”
“You actually said something that a politician would say!”
“You guys, can you at least feel a little more worked up.”
Yuuji facepalmed, and said that with frustration. But, I personally felt that the picture issue was also very important.
“From the recording just now, Nemoto said that ‘we’ll declare war immediately when they think that something’s not right’ right?”
“Ah ah, so you meant that. Eh, it’s true that he said that.”
“In other words, before we notice it, they intend to continue replenishing their marks. This means, unless they’ve finished replenishing their marks, or we noticed it, they won’t declare war on us suddenly.”
Even if they don’t replenish their marks, Class B is still bound to beat us, but they’re this cautious, I guess it’s because of the loss they suffered from the last Summoner Test War. They can still beat us with just one or two strikes even if it’s during peacetime, but all the boy of Class B including the class representative don’t have many marks left to use. After all, it’s good to be cautious. Feeling safer by replenishing marks to a point—I can understand the feeling.
“Oh, so tomorrow is the deadline, we’ll still have time to decide.”
“Really? Won’t they attack today?”
“Didn’t Ironman say it this morning? The Shoukanjuu Summoning System is still under maintenance, so nobody will be able to declare war until tomorrow morning.”
I didn’t have the mood to listen to Ironman this morning, so don’t know a thing about this....I see, so the Shoukanjuu Summoning System is under maintenance.
“Err.... We’ve discussed for so long, what should we do?”
“We are going to start the preparations of course, let Class D declare war on us. The deadline is today, if we can’t do it, then we’ll be back to using orange boxes as tables for classes.”
If so we’ll have to be successful somehow. If the tables are back to orange boxes, I’m afraid Himeji-san will have to transfer school this time.
“In a nutshell, what should we do?”
“We’ll make use of the incident this morning, let Akihisa and Shimada be together, and ignite Shimizu’s fury.”
“Eh? But Minami already knows that it was a misunderstanding.”
“Let’s just put aside the truth, all in all, I want you and Shimida to act as a sweet couple, and let Shimizu get jealous until she freaks out.”
“Eh eh eh eh! That won’t work! If I talk about it with Minami, she’ll freak out!”
“Then we’ll have to make her promise somehow, just leave the acting part to Hideyoshi, it’ll be better if you write down a script, hope it isn’t much of a trouble.”
“I understand.”
“Muttsurini’s task is to gather information and stealth operations. Once everything is done, just leave the war preparations against Class D to me.”
“....I understand.”
“Good, it’s decided, we don’t have time to spare for lunch, we’ll wait for Himeji and Shimada to come back, then we’ll begin the operation. Muttsurini, is our class bugged?”
“.... There won’t be any problem.”
The battle this time is more of battle of mix-up information. The condition may be different from before, but will everything go as planned this time?
☆
“To put it simply, what do you guys want me to do?”
Once we’ve told everything to both of the girls who just came back, Minami stared at me with squinted eyes. Oh oh.. she's still angry..
“I’d like you and Akihisa pretend to be dating, and it must be so sweet that all the bystanders who are looking will be so angry that their blood vessels burst.”
He might have seen Minami’s unhappy expression, but Yuuji still stated his request as if nothing happened.
“I won’t do it.”
Minami rejected it casually. I can comprehend this, after all that thing happened just this morning, and now requesting both of us to be lovers, no matter how people see it, they’ll think that it’s a terrible prank.
“I beg you to help, not only Shimada, Himeji will need to help too.”
“Eh? I, I’m involved?”
“Yes, it’s not real enough if it’s just Akihisa and Shimada, that’s why I hope Himeji will play as the part of someone who is jealous of their relationship.”
In other words, Himeji-san was just a supporting actress. Actually they didn’t have to trouble Himeji-san with this, those Class F guys could also play this supporting part as well. If Himeji-san was jealous because of me, it’d be less real instead.. But regarding the acting part, I’m a complete idiot, I guess I’ll leave this to Hideyoshi the veteran, I’ll just follow orders.
“You want me to play as someone who is jealous of Akihisa-kun and Minami-chan....”
Himeji-san spoke softly as she think about the words Hideyoshi said. What happened? She seems hesitant about it.
“No matter what you guys say, I won’t accept it. You actually want me to act as this idiot’s lover, please stop joking!”
Minami still rejects it stubbornly.
“Shimada, just calm down and think. I understand it’s hard for you to do this, but other than you, there’s no one else who can play this role. If you still choose to disregard it, you’ll regret it in the future. For example, Himeji will transfer school because of this....If it comes to that, won’t you blame yourself?”
Hideyoshi’s advice made Minami sigh reluctantly. If our class utilities worsen, Himeji-san may be forced by her parents to transfer school. Nobody wants that to happen.
It may be so, but I understand Minami’s feeling when she rejected this role.
Even so, then we can only—
“If so, as long as her partner isn’t me, then the problem’s solved, right?”
The reason Minami rejected it painfully, was because her partner was me, but she seemed satisfied with the plot of provoking Shimizu-san. If so, all we had to do was find someone to replace me.
“Eh? Why don’t we find someone else to act as Minami’s boyfriend? This idea isn’t too shabby....But, who should we find?”
“Who.. I think Yuuji is acceptable.”
“Eh, are you telling me to go and commit suicide?”
“If you can’t, what about Muttsurini?”
“....I’m tasked with controlling the listening bugs.”
“Oh....Others, what about those like Sugawa-kun?”
“Akihisa, it seems like you’ve skipped me on purpose, does it mean anything?”
Hideyoshi can’t accept this role, even if I didn’t say it, I’m pretty sure everyone knows the reason.
“Don’t bother talking about it anymore, the role cannot be replaced by anyone else. If you just did that thing in public this morning, and now you are dating a different person, who will fall for it? It must be you and Shimada.”
That’s right, since that thing happened, if Minami is with someone else in public, it’ll be very suspicious for others.
“About that, Minami-chan and Akihisa-kun....I know that both of you aren’t willing, but, I beg both of you this time.”
When Himeji-san finished, she bowed in request to me and Minami. Weird, Himeji-san seems reluctant just now, am I thinking too much?
“Due to personal reasons, I really don’t want to transfer school, so I really need both of you to help!”
“Eh? Ah, of course I’ll help.”
I sneaked a glance at Minami’s direction, and noticed that she’s looking back at me with a complicated expression.
“Oh....I, I understand! It’s just an act! But, I’ve no idea how it will end up compared with the script, I can’t confirm this though!”
“Minami-chan, Akihisa-kun....Thank you.”
Once she’s received Minami’s acceptance, Himeji-san bowed deeply to both of us again.
“It’s, it’s nothing, those tatami mats and tables are bought not long ago, and they’re still in good condition....I’m not doing this for Mizuki, so don’t think about it too much....”
Himeji-san’s thanks made Minami really happy, just that she’s looking slightly away easily, mumbling. Minami isn't really honest.
“Since it’s decided, now let’s get to acting as a lovey-dovey couple, the three of you come and take these.”
Hideyoshi handed to us three scripts that are stapled into booklets. When I opened the booklet, all three of our names are inside, and below are the following lines. This must be....
“The script? You’ve already finished writing it? When did you finish it?”
“Most of them are excerpted from the scripts that I always bring with me.”
Even so, the period from us planning the war until Himeji-san and Minami returned to the classroom, was actually approximately five minutes, Hideyoshi could actually write down all the scripts in such a short time, what is his brain made up of? When drama is mentioned, Hideyoshi will change into someone completely different as expected.
“Take the scripts and try acting them at the roof floor. Muttsurini, what is the condition of the listening bug that Shimizu planted?”
“....I let her think that it was just a minor electrical disturbance just now, it’s back to normal now.”
“Really? If so, other than acting, you mustn’t say anything else. If Shimizu finds out about it, then it’s all over.”
“Just wait for a while, we still haven’t read through the script, how do we act when we still haven’t memorized the lines?”
“....Don’t worry, there’s a blind spot of the hidden camera at the roof floor, just read the script out loud.”
Muttsurini took out a piece of paper, drew a simple plan of the roof floor, and marked the blind spot that he meant.
“I see, if we can just read the scrip-->>